Cleaning the notebook from Tuesday's Lafayette football media luncheon.

Lafayette football coach Frank Tavani said a week ago that he had had a difficult time filling a 62-player roster to take to Fairfield, Conn., for the Leopards' season opener against Sacred Heart.

On Tuesday, Tavani, in his opening remarks at the weekly luncheon with area media, talked first about the need for move improvement, particularly on offense, and added that the upside is, "there are still a lot of correctable things."

Then, he said, "We get some guys back, and that will help."

Injuries are a staple in college football, but in addition to having players out for either the season or varying amounts of the season, Lafayette was faced with three suspensions for violation of school policy.

Two of those suspended players, wide receiver Mike Duncan and defensive back Ben Carroll, are now eligible after sitting out the first two games. Kicker Ryan Gralish has another two games to wait until he can be reinstated.

But Duncan and Carroll aren't the only once-again-available players as Lafayette prepares for what figures to be a huge challenge at William and Mary on Saturday night.

Shane Black, who hasn't played a game since the Lehigh game of 2012, is cleared to return as a defensive back and "should play" in Williamsburg, Va.

Black, a 6-1, 200-pound senior who missed the 2013 season with a foot injury, then hurt his back while working out during the offseason and has been unavailable until now, had all the promise of being a major contributor to the Leopard defense. He lettered as a freshman before breaking an ankle later in the year, then as a sophomore, when he had four interceptions and led the team in solo tackles with 40 and was second in total tackles with 73. He started 10 games.

"There's no magic number," Tavani said when asked how much playing time Black might expect to get. "I always say around a dozen because it reminds me of doughnuts," Tavani quipped, adding, "… a baker's dozen wouldn't be bad. You don't want to throw somebody back in there to take 30-40 reps and be back on the shelf; so, you have to be careful how you approach that. I tend to be a little conservative about that."

About the return of Duncan, who had 29 catches for 346 yards and four TDs in 2013, Tavani said, "We're happy to have [him] back in the lineup, I know he's hungry to play. Our receivers all know – I think maybe Tim [Vangelas, who was present at the luncheon] thinks I'm picking on him, but our receivers have to block better. Timmy knows that. Mike does a great job in that area. I think you're going to see a young man who is real hungry after missing those two games. He learned a hard lesson."

ON MAXIM NGOLLA: Tavani used the words "day-to-day" and "doubtful" when referring to offensive guard Ngolla, who reinjured a shoulder on Saturday night. The coach also said no other players are "up in the air day-to-day."

He declined to say who would take Ngolla's place, but did talk about offensive line coach Stan Clayton's "puzzle … mix and match, he's the master, and our kids handle it extremely well. He does a great job getting them prepared, and we're going to put some big people up front. I'll tell you, that like just got bigger." David Miller (6-4, 292) is listed No. 2 on the depth chart behind Ngolla.

ON ZACK MAZUR: Tavani handed out kudos to the senior center from Freedom High School for his improvement from the first to the second week of the season. "It's not easy, and to his credit, I really got after him as you can only imagine, after first game, and all week long, every snap was right snap to waist of the quarterback and he straightened that out and the operation was better."

ON THE LEOPARDS' OFFENSE: Tavani said, "We're not making enough plays. There are plays to be made, by receivers, by running backs. We have to make those plays. [Quarterback] Drew [Reed] is pressing a little bit. Again, expectations are so high and probably unrealistic to some degree because of last year, which I pay no attention to. He calmed down a little bit and came back in the second half as we did offensively. We got into a better rhythm and started executing. We've got a lot of work to do."